What was the impact of war in Korea?By Rachel, Alizeh and Alisha

Background…

•China became communist in 1949•America had thought of China as an

ally•Truman found out that Stalin was

using cominform to help communists get to power in Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, the Philippines and Korea.

The Domino Theory…

• The domino theory was a theory during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect.

The roots of the Korean War…

• South Korea was invaded in 1950• After the war North Korea was

liberated by Soviet troops • And South Korea by the

Americans • The south was anti-communist

but the north was controlled by a communist leader

• In 1950 the hostility between North and South turned into war.• Communists took control over all of

South Korea apart from a small corner.• The United States came to South

Korea's aid because at this stage of the Cold War, policymakers did not want to appear "soft on Communism” and so the US intervened as part of a "police action" run by a UN (United Nations)

Conditions were awful, with treacherous cold and blinding snow-storms in the winter 1950-1951.

Many civilians suffered as a result of the war and there were also reports of prisoners of war being treated very badly.

• General Douglas MacArthur commanded the US forces which now began to hold off the North Koreans at Pusan, at the southernmost tip of Korea.• MacArthur crushed the North Korean army• Instead of being satisfied with his rapid re-conquest of

South Korea, MacArthur crossed the 38TH Parallel and pursued the North Korean army all the way to the northernmost provinces of North Korea• Afraid that the US was interested in taking North

Korea as a base for operations against Manchuria, the People's Republic of China secretly sent an army• This Chinese army attacked the US/UN/ROK forces.

• General Matthew Ridgway took MacArthur's command and held off the Communists with strong fortifications and entrenchments just north of the 38TH Parallel• Peace negotiations dragged on at Kaesong then

moved and continued to drag at Panmunjom through 1951 and 1952.• The US tried using strategic bombing to intimidate

the Communists into negotiating a peace treaty, but they wouldn't budge, particularly on the issue of POW (Prisoner of War) repatriation.

•Neither side wanted to appear weak so the talks went on, occasionally breaking down for months.• In 1953 a peace treaty was signed at

Panmunjom that ended the Korean War, returning Korea to a divided status essentially the same as before the war.•Neither the war nor its outcome did

much to lessen the era's Cold War tension

What was the impact in Korea?

• The Korean War finally ended in July 1953. Left in its wake were four million military and civilian casualties, including 33,600 American, 16,000 UN allied, 415,000 South Korean, and 520,000 North Korean dead.• There were also an estimated 900,000 Chinese

casualties. • Half of Korea's industry was destroyed and a

third of all homes. The disruption of civilian life was almost complete.

• Try to imagine for a moment what life must have been like for civilians trying to avoid invading armies during the first year of the war when battle lines shifted back and forth through the countryside every few months.

• Each time opposing armies swept through an area, homes and personal possessions would be damaged or destroyed by shelling or bombing, crops would be trampled, livestock would be stolen for food, and civilians would be harmed by stray gunfire or random violence by individual soldiers.• If found, male civilians could be forcefully drafted to

fight, and anyone could be accused as being a supporter of the "other" side and then imprisoned or summarily executed.